Merchandise display assembly



Dec; 29, 1959 LEVY 2,919,034

MERCHANDISE DISPLAY ASSEMBLY Filed Dec. 28, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 u .22i 20 v 31 32 30 aa 32 5 0 21; 32 i.

l 22 g; M 31 32 H 162 32 12 i 32 3 :i 19 42 14.2 I 17 F 1 H 22 J 2a 217l r. U W 4% 39 32c 4 4- 16 l 43 38 3 5 0 Z 39 2 .7 INVENTOR.

I La'warci/LflZs z/ V 22 BY 2 g g .fl 54 g fififit,

.Dec. 29, 1959 E. M. LEVY.

MERCHANDISE DISPLAY ASSEMBLY 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 28, 1956 IN VEN TOR.

2 dZZ/QY'LZMZ 82/ z 3 a m1. mfwzv MERCHANDISE DISPLAY ASSEMBLY Edward M.Levy, Evanston, 111., assignor to Reflector- Hardware Corporation,Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application December 28, 1956,Serial No. 631,214

12 Claims. (Cl. 211-148) The present invention relates to merchandisingdevices and more particularly to improvements in merchandise displayequipment of a type especially suitable for use in retail stores and thelike where it is important to display goods in an attractive manner.

Most modern retail store owners or managers are fully aware of the factthat the volume of sales of the various individual items in theirinventories usually can be increased materially when each type ofmerchandise is displayed to its greatest advantage. Because most storesnow sell a great variety of diiferent types of items,

however, many retail establishments, and particularly the small ones,have not been. able in the past to purchase the many types of specialdisplay stands, racks and shelves that would heretofore have beennecessary to present the .different kinds of merchandise in the mostattractive manner. Since such racks, stands and shelves have heretoforebeen of a more or less fixed or permanent nature, and in many instanceshave been custom-built and virtually incapable of modification, manystore owners have thought special display fixtures to be too expensiveto be practical and have adhered to the old counter-and-shelfarrangement for nearly all of their smaller goods, with the result thatthe goods have not been. adequately displayed and their places ofbusiness in many cases have taken on the drab atmosphere that resultswhen arrangements of goods cannot be varied from time to time.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a new andinexpensive merchandise display assembly that has a minimum number ofparts, all of which may easily be mass produced and substantially all ofwhich are interchangeable and so constructed that a great variety ofmerchandise display arrangements may be made with one of the assemblies.The dilferent arrangements may be easily and selectively made on theassembly at the place of its useancl all, at the selection ofthe managerof the store or department in which the assembly is installed. As willlater become apparent, the assembly comprises a plurality of uprightstructural members which may be supported in any desired or convenientmanner at any location in a store, and upon which a plurality of readilyinterchangeable panels of novel construction are adapted to be'quicklymounted in .any of a great variety of arrangements so as to provideattractive vertical background walls or elements for the display ofmerchandise, horizontal shelves, or diagonally arrangedshelves ofdifferent slopesor any combination ofvthese arrangements that may bedesired in order best to display the particular merchandise underconsideration. Other objects of the invention include the novel mannerin which the panels are removably mounted in the position justmentioned, as a result of which the assembly may be changed very quicklyfrom wearrangement to another. The assembly thus has a quality ofuniversal adaption which makes it useful in stores of different kindsand in different departmentswithin the samestore.

* These and'other objects and advantages of the present floor orthelike. ,and.11. comprises an inverted substantially V-shaped -with asquare cross-section.

. Patented Dec. 29, 1959 ice , invention will be apparent from thefollowing description of a preferred embodiment thereof, taken with theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

.panels being arranged to provide a vertical background walliformerchandise and a horizontally arranged shelf therebeneath;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view taken on an enlarged scalesubstantially along the line 22 in Fig. 1 to show the manner in whichthe opposite ends of the horizontal shelf are removably supported uponthe upright structural members of the display assembly;

Fig. 3 is a partial view in perspective taken from the rear of thedisplay assembly, with the panels of the display assembly-being shown ina difierent arrangement;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view on an enlarged scale takensubstantially along the line 4-4 in Fig. 3 to illustrate the manner inwhich the diagonally arranged shelf panels and the vertically suspendedmerchandise-background panels are removably secured upon the uprightstructural members of the display assembly;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary elevational view of a portion of the assemblytaken substantially along the line 55' in Fig. 4;

Fig.- 6 is an enlarged fragmentary elevational view taken fromthe frontside of a merchandise supporting hook removably secured upon the frontside of the vertical background panel shown in Fig. 3; and

. Fig. 7 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the base portion-of themerchandise supporting hook of Fig. 6, showing the manner in which it isremovably mounted upon the vertical background panel.

Referring toFig. 1, the merchandise display assembly there illustratedcomprises a pair of supports 10 and 11 arranged at opposite ends of theassembly and adapted to support the assembly in an upright position upona Each of the support assemblies 10 frame element 12 having an apex 13,the two legs of each support element being joined adjacent their lowerends by a transversely extending rod 14. The ,end support elements 10and 11 are joined by a substantially rectangular frame comprised ofthree vertically disposed .tu'bular structuralmembers 15, 16 and 17which, in the present instance, have a hollow, square crosssection. Thevertical structural members 15, 16 and '17..are joined respectively attheir tops and bottoms by horizontally' extending structural elements 18and 19 which likewise may be of hollow tubular construction Each of thevertical structural members 15, 16 and 17 is provided with a forward andrear face 20 and 21, each of which has a double row of verticallyelongated and vertically aligned slots 22,therein.

The upright supports 10 and 11 and the rectangular comprise aself-supporting upof,the merchandise display assembly of the present;invention may be interchangeably, and selectively arranged In a. greatvariety of'ways so as to satisfyispecific'hdisplaydneeds that may existat a particular time, andin .order to permit frequent rearrangement ofdisplays -so that the retail store or other establishment in which'thepresent invention is used may be given a fresh and new appearance fromtime to time.

As illustrated in Fig. 1, the frame of'the Presenhdisplay assembly has apair of panels 25 and .26 removably arranged thereon on its left-handside, as a pair of diagonally disposed shelves upon which any of a greatvariety of merchandise may be attractively displayed. The panels 25 andand 26 are of identical construction, as will be later explained, and inthe present instance the panel 25 is arranged at a sharper angle withrespect to the horizontal than is the panel 26. On the other side of thefront of the frame two panels 27 and 28, each of which may be of thesame structure as the panels 25 and 26, are respectively arranged as ahorizontal shelf and as a vertical background display panel. Above thepanel 28 there is a larger panel 29 which completes the background areaabove the panel 28. Any arrangement of merchandise desired may obviouslybe supported upon the horizontal shelf 27, and merchandise may besupported in attractive displays upon the vertical background panels 28and 29 by means of hook assemblies 30, for example, which will presentlybe described in detail.

Referring now to Fig. 2, it will be seen that the horizontal panel 27and each of the other panels is comprised of a peripheral rectangular.frame comprising a U-shaped longitudinal channel frame member 31 andsimilar channel-shaped end members 32 which may be joined to the framemember 31 as by welding or the like. The longitudinal frame member 33opposite the U-shaped channel member 31 of each panel is L-shaped incross-section (see Fig. 4), one of the crosssectional legs 34 of thiselement being longer than the other and being folded over, as at 35, ina manner such that the depth of the frame member 33 is greater than thedepth of the opposite longitudinal frame member 31 and the end members32. v

The horizontal shelf represented by the panel 27 is supported at itsopposite ends by a pair of brackets 36 (Fig. 2). Each of these bracketscomprises a forwardly extending sheet metal body 37 which may beembossed, as at 38, to increase its rigidity. At the inner end of thebody 37 there are formed a pair of hooks 39 which are removably receivedin an adjacent pair ofthe slots 22 in the forward faces 20 of theupright structural members 16 and 17 of the support assembly. Thesebooks 39 book over the lower edges of the slots, as best shown in Fig.2, and the rear portion of the body 37 of the bracket between the books39 may be struck in opposite directions to provide diverging braceportions 40 and 41 which are adapted to rest against the forward faces20 of the uprights 16 and 17 to prevent the bracket 36 from wobblinglaterally. In order toincrease the ability of the bracket 36 to'supportsubstantial weights that may be placed upon the horizontal shelf, thebrackets may each be provided with a reinforcing member 42 which may beriveted or spot welded, as at 43, to the body 37 of the bracket so thatthe reinforcing member 42 will extend downwardly below the bracket andits rear edge 44 will rest against the forward face 20 of the uprightstructural member 16 or 17. The end frame members 32 of the horizontalshelf panel 27 rest upon the respective upper edges 45 of the brackets36, and the under leg 32a,of each of the U-shaped channel end frameelements 32 is provided with a plurality of openings 32b and 32c, one ofwhich receives an upwardly directed hook-shaped projection 46 formed onthe forward end of each of the brackets 36. The receipt of theseprojections 46 in the openings 32b or 32c of the U-shaped end framemembers 32 of the horizontal panel 27 prevents both forward and lateralmovement of the panel 27 upon the brackets 36. Tilting movement of thepanel 27 upon the brackets 36 may be prevented, if desired, by a ho ok47 which is welded or otherwise secured upon the upper portion of thebody 37 of each bracket 36 adjacent its rear, and each book 47 isarranged to project upwardly arranged as diagonally disposed shelvesupon the present assembly, are reversed in the position with respect tothe position of the horizontal panel 27. That is, the

and overhang the frame member 31 of the panel, as

best shown in Fig. 2. i

The panels 25 and 26, and all other panels which are L-shaped angularlongitudinal frame members 33 of the diagonally arranged panels aredisposed at the rear of these panels rather than in the forwardposition, as is the case in the horizontal panel 27. This will best beseen in Figs. 3 and 4, in the former of which the diagonally disposedpanel 26 of Fig. '1 has been removed and a vertical background panel 47has been arranged in its place. Similarly, in Fig. 4, the uprightbackground panels 28 and 29 of Fig. 1 have been removed from theirvertical positions and the position of the larger panel 29 has beenreversed-top for bottomand it has been pivoted forwardly to provide alarge diagonally disposed shelf.

When the panels are arranged in the diagonal shelf position, as is thecase with the panels 25 and 26 in Fig. 1 and the panels 25 and 29 inFig. 3, the upwardly and rearwardly disposed edges of these panels,comprising the angular longitudinal frame members 33, are each pivotallysupported upon laterally turned ends 50 of a pair of upwardly extendinghook members 51, each of which is welded or otherwise secured upon ashort forwardly extending L-shaped bracket 52 having a pair of books 53formed thereon similar to the hooks 39 provided on the previouslydescribed brackets 36'. These hooks 53 on the brackets 52 are removablyreceived over the lower edges of a pair of adjacent openings 22 in theupright structural members, as best seen in Fig. 4, and the body of eachbracket 52 at its rear end may be struck in opposite directions so as toprovide elements 54 and 55 that correspond to the elements 44 and 41 ofthe brackets 36 and similarly engage the forward faces 20 of the uprightstructural members to prevent lateral motion of the brackets 52 andtheir hook members 51 with respect to the uprights.

Itwill be observed from Figs. 3 and 4 that the lower wall or leg 32a ofeach of the opposite end frame members 32 of the frame of the panels iscut away adjacent the longitudinal frame member 33 so as to providenotches or openings 32d which permit easy receipt of the frame members33 upon the upper .end portions 50 of the upwardly extending hookmembers 51. When so received, the diagonal panels are free to be swungforwardly to any angle desired. The desired angle, and thus the angle ofthe shelf surface provided by these panels, is maintained by pairs ofbrackets 56 or 57 which differ from each other only as to their length.The brackets 56 and 57 are substantially identical to the constructionof the brackets 36, which have previously been described in detail,except that they need not be provided with the hook elements 47 nor withreinforcing members 42 of the brackets'36. The brackets 56 and 57, asbest shown in Fig. 4, are each provided with a longitudinally extendingbody 58 that is pro-vided at its rear end with a pair of hooks 59 thatare identical to the hooks 39 provided on the brackets 36 and the hooks53 provided upon the brackets 52. The hooks 59 of the brackets 56 and 57are arranged to be received in adjacent openings 20 of the uprights atany selected elevation, and wobbling movement of the brackets 56 and 57is prevented by oppositely struck projections 60 and 61 which correspondto the similarly struck projections 40 and 41 of the brackets 36 and theprojections 54 and 55 of the brackets 52. The outermost ends of thebrackets 56 and 57 are provided -with upwardly projecting hook elements62 which are panels 28 and 29 in Fig. l and by the panel 47 in Fig. 3,are hung freely upon the laterally turned upper arms 50 of theupstanding hook members 51 of additional brackets 52, the channel-shapedframe member 31 of each vertical panel being received over the hookmembers, as best shown in the lower portion of Fig. 4, so that thevertically disposed panels are safely retained in place.

The lower wall or leg 32a of each of the opposite end prised of a sheetof wide mesh screening or expanded metal which may be spot welded orotherwise secured to the frames of the panels. The panels may also beprovided with intermediate frame members 70 which extend between theframe members 31 and 33 and may be welded or otherwise secured thereto.In the embodiment shown in the drawing, it will be observed that thesmaller panels have only one of these intermediate frame membersprovided therefor, as shown in panels 25, 26, 27 and 28, whereas thelarger panels, exemplified by the panels 29 and 47 are provided with twoof these intermediate members.

The open mesh of the screen or expanded metal merchandise supportingsurfaces of the panels provides an excellent medium by which themerchandise supporting hook'assemblies 30 may be secured to the verticalpanels. Each of the merchandise support assemblies 30 comprises a plate71 having hook-shaped ears 72 turned rearwardly thereon at its upperside edges, and each plate has a forwardly projecting merchandisesupporting rod 73 or other supporting device welded or otherwise securedthereon. It will be understood that the plates may be hooked upon themesh of the vertical panels at any position desired thereon in themanner shown in Figs. 6 and 7.

For the sake of simplicity in illustration and explanation, the variouspanels have been sown in the drawing as being installed on only one sideof the structural upright members 15, 16, and 17. However, it will be appreciated that the vertically aligned slots 22 are provided in the rearfaces 21 as well as in the forward faces 29 of the upright structuralmembers so that any desired arrangement of the panels may be mountedsimultaneously on the opposite sides of the upright members. Thus, ifdesired, one side of the present display assembly may have onearrangement of vertical panels, diagonal shelves and horizontal shelves,while the other side may be provided with an entirely differentarrangement. In any event, the horizontal shelves in each instance aremounted upon the upright structural members in the manner describedabove with respect to the panel 27; the diagonally arranged shelves aremounted in the manner described with respect to the representativediagonal panel 25; and all vertically arranged panels are mounted in thesame manner as described above with respect to the panel 47 of Fig. 3.

Although the present embodiment of the invention has been shown withonly three upright structural members 15, 16 and 17, it will also beunderstood that any desired number of upright members may be employed inany particular assembly. The upright structural members are preferablyequally spaced apart so that all of the panels may be of equallongitudinal length and may differ from each other only in their lateralwidth. This simplifies the manufacture of the assembly, but still givesto the user a vast choice in the number of display arrangements that maybe made with the assembly. It will furthermore be understood that, whilethe preferred embodi- 'ment of the invention is in the form of aself-supporting structure which may be used as an island in a store orother commercial establishment, other forms of the invention may bemade. For example the upright structural members may be mounted in fixedposition upon an existing counter top or, if desired, they may bemounted against a vertical wall within a room so that a great variety ofdisplay arrangements may be made along the wall. It will also beunderstood that each of the interchangeable panels of the presentinvention may be fabricated of a single sheet of sheet metal, ifdesired.

The foregoing description has been given for clearness of understandingonly and no unnecessary limitations should be understood to be intendedthereby, for it will be apparent to those skilled in the art thatnumerous variations and modifications may be made in the presentinvention within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A merchandise display assembly comprising, a plurality ofspaced-apart upright structural members each having at least one row ofvertically aligned openings provided in its forward face, a plurality ofreadily interchangeable panel members, and means including a pluralityof panel receiving supports removably hooked over the respective loweredges of selected ones of said openings for selectively supporting saidpanels in depending vertical positions upon said structural members toprovide background elements for said merchandise and in forwardlyprojecting horizontal and diagonal positions upon said structuralmembers so as to provide horizontally and diagonally arranged forwardlyprojecting display shelves for said merchandise.

2. A merchandise display assembly comprising, a selfsupporting structureadapted to rest upon a floor and including a plurality of uprightspaced-apart structural members each having at least one row ofvertically aligned openings provided in its forward face, a plurality ofreadily interchangeable panel members each having a width substantiallyequal to a multiple of the space between a row of said openings in oneof said structural members and a row of said openings in an adjacent oneof said structural members, and means including a plurality of panelreceiving supports removably hooked over the respective lower edges ofselected ones of said openings for selectively supporting said panels independing vertical positions upon said structural members to providebackground elements for said merchandise and in forwardly projectinghorizontal and diagonal positions upon said structural members so as toprovide horizontal and diagonally arranged forwardly projecting displayshelves for said merchandise.

3. A merchandise display assembly comprising, a selfsupporting structureadapted to rest upon a floor and including a plurality of uprightspaced-apart structural members each having at least one row ofvertically aligned openings provided in its forward face, a plurality ofreadily interchangeable rectangular panel members each having a widthsubstantially equal to a multiple of the space between a row of saidopenings in one of said structural members and a row of said openings inan adjacent one of said structural members, and means including aplurality of panel receiving supports removably hooked over therespective lower edges of selected ones of said openings for selectivelysupporting certain of said panels in depending vertical positions uponsaid structural members to provide rectangular background elements forsaid merchandise and in forwardly projecting horizontal and diagonalpositions upon said structural members to provide rectangularhorizontally and diagonally arranged forwardly projecting displayshelves for said merchandise.

4. A merchandise display assembly comprising, a selfsupporting,structure adapted to rest upon a floor and including a plurality ofupright spaced-apart structural members each having at least one row ofvertically aligned openings in its forward and rear faces, a pluralityof readily interchangeable rectangular panel members each having a widthsubstantially equal to a multiple of the space between a row of saidopenings in one of said structural members and a row of said openings inan adjacent one of said structural members, a plurality of panelreceiving supports removably hooked over the respective lower edges ofselected ones of said, openings for selectively. supporting certain ofsaid panels in depending vertical positions upon said structural membersto provide rectangular background elements for said merchandise, and aplurality of brackets removably hooked over the lower edges of others ofsaid openings for supporting others of said panels in horizontaloutwardly projecting positions to provide display shelves for saidmerchandise.

5. A merchandise display assembly comprising, a plurality ofspaced-apart upright structural members each having a row of verticallyaligned openings provided in its forward face, a plurality of panelreceiving supports removably hooked over the respective lower edges ofselected ones of said openings, a plurality of readily interchangeablerectangular panel members removably and pivotally mounted adjacent theirupper edges directly upon said supports, and a plurality of forwardlyextending brackets removably hooked over the lower edges of others ofsaid openings, the outer ends of said brackets engaging only certain ofsaid panels below the location of their pivotal engagement with saidsupports and respectively retaining said certain panels in outwardlypivoted positions so as to provide diagonally disposed shelves for saidmerchandise, the remaining ones of said panels.

pivotally hanging freely upon said supports in vertical positions toprovide vertical background elements for said merchandise.

6. A merchandise display assembly comprising, a plurality ofspaced-apart upright structural members each having a row of verticallyaligned openings provided in its forward face, a plurality of panelreceiving supports removably hooked over the respective lower edges ofselected ones of said openings, and a plurality of readily removable andinterchangeable rectangular panel members removably and pivotallymounted adjacent their upper edges directly upon said supports andhanging freely thereon in vertical positions along said structuralmembers to provide background elements for said merchandise.

7. The combination set forth in claim 6, including means for pivotingcertain of said panels in a direction outwardly of said structuralmembers and for retaining the latter of said panels in their pivotedpositions to provide shelves for said merchandise.

8. A merchandise display assembly comprising, a plurality ofspaced-apart upright structural members each having a row of verticallyaligned openings provided in its forward face, a plurality of panelreceiving supports removably hooked over the respective lower edges ofselected ones of said openings, each of said supports including alaterally extending arm, a plurality of readily interchangeablerectangular panels each having a rectangular peripheral frame includinga first longitudinal frame member of U-shaped cross-section extendingalong a first longitudinal edge of the panel with the open side of the Udirected toward the center of the panel, a second longitudinal framemember extending along the opposite longitudinal edge of the panel, andend frame members extending along opposite-end portions of the panel,certain of said panels being freely hung in vertical positions onselected ones of said arms with the arms received within the U-shapedcross-sections of said first longitudinal frame members thereof toretain said panels in said vertical positions and to provide rectangularbackground elements for said merchandise.

9. A merchandise display assembly comprising, a pluraltiy ofspaced-apart upright structural members each having a row of verticalaligned openings provided in its forward face, a plurality of panelreceiving supports removably hooked over the respective lower edges ofselected ones of said openings, each of said supports including alaterally extending arm, a plurality of readily interchangeablerectangular panels each having a rectangular peripheral frame includinga first longitudinal frame member of U-shaped cross-section extendingalong a first longitudinal edge of the panel with the open side of the Udirected toward the center of the panel, a second longitudinal framemember extending along the opposite longitudinal edge of the panel, andend frame members extending along opposite end portions of the panel,certain of said panels being freely hung in vertical positions onselected ones of said arms with the arms received within the U-shapedcross-sections of said first longitudinal frame members thereof toretain said panels in said vertical positions and to provide rectangularbackground elements for said merchandise, others of said panels beinghung with said second longitudinal frame members thereof in pivotalsupporting engagement with others of said arms, and forwardly extendingbrackets on said structural members engaging the end frame members ofsaid last mentioned panels and retaining the same in a forwardly pivotedposition with respect to said structural members to provide shelves forsaid merchandise.

10. The combination set forth in claim 9, wherein said secondlongitudinal frame member of each of said panels is L-shaped incross-section and wherein said laterally extending arms of said supportsare pivotally received within the crotch of the L in each of said lastmentioned group of panels.

11. The combination set forth in claim 9, wherein said end frame membersof said panel are U-shaped in crosssection and openings are providedtherein for receiving the outermost ends of said brackets.

12. The combination set forth in claim 9, including horizontally andforwardly extending rests removably secured in selected ones of theopenings in said structural members and adapted to support additionalones of said panels in horizontal attitudes to provide horizontalshelves for said merchandise.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS350,031 Bacon Sept. 28, 1886 421,540 Barber Feb. 18, 1890 570,657Beckwith Nov. 3, 1896 945,280 Lindberg Jan. 4, 1910 2,136,109 Kress Nov.8, 1938 2,676,712 Chappory Apr. 27, 1954 2,767,950 Bellon Oct. 23, 1956FOREIGN PATENTS 499,592 Belgium Dec. 15, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE g CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 2,919,034 December 29,1959 Edward M. Levy It is hereby certified ;that7;;emfr'sxfiiiagppjeiarsiin-athe priintd specification of the above numbered patentrequiring correction and that the said Letters Patent should read ascorrected below Column 6, line 50, for "horizontal" read horizontallycolumn 8, line 10, for "vertical" read vertically line 43, for "panel"read panels Signed and sealed this 21st day of June 1960o (SEAL) Attost:

KARLH. AXLINE ROBERT c. WATSON Ali tesiflll'tg oifficez v Conrhissionerof Patents

